Roadside Signs Still Fine

State Highway Administration hasn’t ­collected a penny

By Ashley Brotherton

Counting any fewer roadside signs as you drive through Chesapeake Country?
After $25 per fines on signs on the right-of-way on state highways were promised last year, we expected postings to go down. Didn’t you?
In the weeks before the November 6 election, signs bloomed. Many were gone before Election Day, though business-as-usual signs — Christmas Lights was an omnipresent one — quickly returned.
The State Highway Administration collected 659 signs political and otherwise from state roads last month. All ended up in the back of dump trucks along with other roadside litter, says State Highway Administration’s Charlie Gischlar. “Every election we remind the candidates it is not permitted to put signs up on our property,” he added.
Part of the reason for the prohibition is cost. Last year, the State Highway Administration spent $600,000 collecting signs off of the side of the road.
Fines ought to offset that cost.
If they are collected.
They’re not.
“We’re still in an educational period and working on our own protocol,” says Kellie Boulware of the State Highway Administration.
So, if you’re willing to lose the cost of the sign, it’s still fine to post signs on state roadways.
But you already knew that, didn’t you?